New housing for vets at downtown gateway

New housing for veterans is being constructed by the city of Muncie, the Muncie Area Career Center and Muncie Home Ownership at the corner of West Kilgore Avenue and West Charles Street.(Photo: Corey Ohlenkamp/The Star Press)Buy Photo

MUNCIE, Ind. — Affordable housing to be marketed to veterans is being built at a distressed gateway to downtown Muncie.

"They are going to be designated as family housing for veterans," said Penny Leach, director of the nonprofit Muncie Home Ownership and Revitalization organization.

One of the three single-family houses is being constructed by local high school students from the Muncie Area Career Center.

The location of the new houses is Kilgore Avenue, near Charles Street, two blocks from Parson Mortuary.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development dollars are helping to fund the projects in the 1000 block of Kilgore. Leach's organization is also seeking local contributions to help pay for the houses, each of which will contain about 1,400 square feet of space including three bedrooms.

The most expensive of the houses is costing $194,363, for which $155,289 has been secured, leaving a need for an additional $41,025.

About $88,0000 in funding has been obtained for a second house that is costing $155,289, leaving a balance of $67,141 dependent on local fundraising.

The third house, the one being built by high schoolers, is fully funded ($125,000). It is costing less because of the free labor provided by students.

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Muncie Area Career Center high school students work on the roof of a new house on Kilgore Avenue in Muncie.(Photo: Seth Slabaugh/The Star Press)

None of the houses will be appraised anywhere near their cost.

Preliminary appraisals indicate they will be valued at around $60,000 when put on the market.

"That's because we do buildings in blighted neighborhoods," Leach said. "Our goal is to revitalize neighborhoods. We are going into neighborhoods with lower property values. You may invest a lot of dollars, but the appraisals don't match the investment. But as you continue to build homes and revitalize property, values go up, which is good for the buyer."

Similar new homes that have sold in the $60,000 range in the East Central Neighborhood have seen their values increase to around $75,000 as more homes are added.

There is demand for affordable homes for populations that have historically been disenfranchised, for example low income, the disabled and veterans, Old West End Neighborhood Association President Brad King said.

We welcome any development that addresses that demand and helps disadvantaged families,": he told The Star Press.

Terry Whitt Bailey, director of the city's Community Development office, said, "We need for more people to know about Muncie Home Ownership & Revitalization and the wonderful work that Penny Leach and the Muncie Area Career Center do. Young people at the career center are learning a trade … and we are getting a house out of it. Penny is pretty much a one-woman show who partners well … and knows how to leverage dollars."

Leach's organization builds on properties that formerly contained abandoned or unsafe houses. The organization has partnered with the Career Center on more than 30 homes in neighborhoods surrounding downtown, including the Old West End.

The housing is available for rent or home ownership to lower-income households.

"Buyers have to meet HUD median-income requirements," Leach said.

Brown Quality Carpentry of Gaston is building two of the Kilgore houses.

Delaware County police Sgt. Bill Polk owned one of the three lots on which the houses are being built. He donated it to Leach's group. The Muncie Redevelopment Commission donated the other two.

"A lot of times you have veterans receive an honorable discharge and they move back home and their income doesn't meet the requirements to be able to live in clean, safe, affordable homes," Leach said. "They usually pay over 50 percent of their income for housing."

To donate to the projects, call Leach at (765) 282-6656.

Seth Slabaugh is a reporter at The Star Press who can be reached at (765) 213-5834 or seths@muncie.gannett,com.